Footprints in the Snow
by otherhawk
Summary: Owen and the raptors get to experience snow for the first time. Yes, on a tropical island. Jurassic World is an odd place...but they have fun. Inspired by Macx's wonderful Pushing Boundaries verse.


**A/N: Entirely inspired by Macx's Pushing Boundaries series - do go read that first, if you haven't already, it's amazing.  
**

 **A/N2: Happy Christmas InSilva - well, alright, not _any_ fandom**

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Christmas was never a particularly busy season at Jurassic World. There was nothing about a tropical island that screamed 'Christmas' to most people, and then too, dinosaurs weren't especially festive, no matter how many photoshopped pictures of velociraptors in Santa hats got sent around. Of course, the good thing about that from the park staff's point of view, was that it meant more of them could leave the island and spend the holiday season with their loved ones back in their home countries.

Owen, of course, was going nowhere. His parents were spending Christmas on a Caribbean cruise and, well, he wouldn't leave the pack anyway. There was no place he'd rather be than right here, with the girls.

The park was decorated in celebration of Christmas - the trees on the main approach had been decorated with fairy lights, and there were holiday decorations hanging from every store front. The usual music piped in public areas had been replaced with Christmas music too, to Owen's slight annoyance. There was a limited number of times a man could listen to Frosty the Snowman, especially while he was wandering around in board shorts in the sweltering heat.

The main change though, was a new, temporary attraction, just for the winter season. An unused enclosure had been converted into a temperature-controlled bubble, dubbed 'The Snow Globe', containing holograms and animatronics of the animals of the ice age, along with fields of snow for the kids to play in, and a Santa's grotto. Apparently, the idea behind it was to test out the public's interest in woolly mammoths and sabre tooth tigers, in order to see whether there was a demand to bring them back as well - in a second site, naturally. Creatures evolved to survive an ice age were unlikely to find Isla Nubla comfortable.

And of course, when the idea had first been unveiled at the weekly department head meeting, someone from marketing had pointed out that woolly mammoths weren't dinosaurs, to which one of the paleontology team had replied that actually, neither were the fliers or the mosasur and, after that, it had dissolved into a mess of territorial bickering which Owen had watched in mild bemusement until Claire had calmly and efficiently brought the meeting to order.

The attraction seemed popular enough to him anyway. The numbers looked good, though no doubt the professionals were analysing the data carefully. But more to the point, as far as he was concerned, right now there was a unique opportunity to test out the pack's scenting and tracking capabilities in a kind of terrain they'd never experienced before. It was something he couldn't pass up; he was running an experiment here, after all. An experiment whose results could never be duplicated, admittedly, but an experiment nonetheless.

He'd taken the proposal to Carter and Claire and got the okay along with a few pointed comments about playing in the snow. They both knew that there was no security risk here, after all. The Snow Globe was closed down at night, and there were back entrances inside unreachable by the public. He and the pack could reach it entirely unseen.

Which they did, and here they were, standing in the temperature-controlled airlock between the outside and the Snow Globe itself.

"Alright," he said, to the pack gathered close around him, excitement thrumming through them, not only at the thought of the training, but at the idea of something new. Echo was practically bouncing on her feet."This is going to be colder than anything you've experienced before, so you need to tell me if any of you feel uncomfortable or sick."

Delta snorted and shuffled her feet across the floor and Charlie barked at her.

"Hey!" he emphasised, holding his hand out in front of her snout. "Eyes on me. I mean it, okay."

 _We know, Owen,_ Blue said soothingly, her nose pressed against his arm. _You have told us already. You worry._

"Part of the job," he said lightly.

The temperature had dropped noticeably now and he turned to face the door as it slowly slid open, revealing a stone path through rolling snow drifts with pine trees planted here and there and strings of white lights wound between them. It looked like a winter wonderland.

Fascinated, the pack surged forwards. Delta immediately leaned down to sniff at the powdery snow and jumped back, sneezing and spluttering, her startlement appearing loud and clear through the bond.

He smiled. "Yup, that's snow," he told her. "Go explore for a bit, ladies," he added to them all, reinforcing the instruction through the bond. "You might as well take a while to get used to it before we try anything out." And it would give him time enough to be sure that they really were alright with the colder temperatures before they got into anything that might be too distracting.

Charlie, Delta and Echo scattered immediately, running off to explore this strange new world, their excitement evident. Already he could see Charlie looking round, her head lowered as she fell into a hunting pattern.

"There's nothing to hunt," he called after her warningly.

He got back the impression that she was intent on proving him wrong.

Blue lingered for a moment, sticking close by his side.

"So what do you think?" he asked.

 _Cold. I would not like to live here._

"Maybe not," he agreed, already half wishing that he owned a thicker coat. "But it's fun to visit." _Go enjoy yourself._

She snorted and took off, flashing past where Echo was experimenting with pushing her head into the snow bank, looking to see what was underneath it.

Alone, physically at least, he walked slowly up the hill, past several snowmen presumably built by guests.

 _They do not look like men._ Blue sounded puzzled.

He smiled. _It's a game. Children build them. I used to, when I was young._

He reached the top of the hill where one of the large, animatronic mammoths stood. He had to admit, they had done a good job. There was a smell to it as well, hot and heavy and rank. He could almost believe it was a living creature -

 _No heartbeat,_ Blue noted thoughtfully. _And it smells of metal._

\- if not for the fact that it wasn't just his own senses and instincts he was relying on.

Delta came up to investigate a few moments later, walking around the mammoth slowly, regarding it with puzzlement. She could see it wasn't real, she was just having trouble figuring out what it was _for._

Unexpectedly, the mammoth bellowed and tossed its head from side to side. Delta leapt backwards in shock and screamed a challenge. Owen turned to see Echo standing on the metal panel that acted as a motion sensor to activate the mammoth, apparently just as surprised as her sister. But almost immediately, she looked to Delta and then back down at the switch at her feet.

"Echo..." he called out chidingly. "Play nice."

Delta agreed, snapping huffily, and Echo slunk away from the panel.

The mammoth continued to go through its movement patterns. Blue had appeared behind him, studying it carefully, and he was aware of her assessment, that it should be attacked from behind to avoid the tusks, that they could easily attack the hind legs, bringing it down.

"Mammoths never lived at the same time as raptors," he told her.

 _But they might soon._ She had picked that up from him anyway.

 _Somewhere far away, if it happens. Not on the island. No chance to hunt._

And talking of hunting, he caught the edge of Charlie's anticipation just before she pounced, and looked up in time to see one of the snowman explode in a mess of powdered snow and satisfied raptor. "Don't think I didn't see that, Charlie. It doesn't count as a hunt if it can't run away."

She didn't care. She'd just liked the way the snow went to pieces and from the way Echo and Delta were currently diving off the snowbank, they agreed.

"So snow is fun?" he asked expectantly, and he smiled at the enthusiastic agreement. Yeah. He'd always loved snow days when he was a kid. Funny, he'd thought there was nothing he really missed about living stateside, but this was making him feel nostalgic. He remembered long afternoons of snowball fights that had seemed like the highlight of winter.

He was distracted from his thoughts by a clump of snow suddenly hitting him on the head. Surprised, he turned, to see his regal beta regarding him innocently, the snow furrowed up where she had kicked it.

"Oh, really?" he said, eyebrow raised. "You want to start?" Quickly, he stooped and scooped up the snow into a snowball, and threw it towards her, and she dodged gracefully to the side, but it still hit her flank.

 _Game! Game! Game!_ The pack's excitement bubbled away and he laughed out loud and quickly grabbed another snowball.

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The next day, the first visitors to the attraction exclaimed over the sight of velociraptor and human footprints, intertwined, as though they had been playing together in the snow."

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 **A/N: Thanks for reading, please let me know if you like it.**


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